Knowledge Center

Research and Publications

Solution Based Casework research: Parent, worker, supervisor survey

DSHS asked Partners for Our Children to conduct an independent evaluation of whether Washington State's new child welfare casework model improves outcomes for children and families. These are the results of the baseline survey of parents, social workers and supervisors.

• Presentation to Legislature
  On January 14, 2010, POC Research and Development Director Mark Courtney presented highlights from this survey to the Washington State House of Representative's Early Learning and Children's Services Committee.
• Legislative fact sheet
  This is the fact sheet handed out with Mark Courtney's presentation on January 14, 2010.
• Supervisor survey: Full report. Evaluation of Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Children Administration's Solution Based Casework Practice Model Interim Report: Part II Supervisors' Baseline Survey Results
  Sandra Lyons, Mark Courtney, Maureen Newby, JoAnn Lee
  February 2009
• Supervisor Survey: Questionnaire
• Supervisor Survey: Fact sheet
• Worker Survey: Full report. Evaluation of Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Children Administration's Solution Based Casework Practice Model Interim Report: Part III Social Workers' Baseline Survey Results
  Sandra Lyons, Mark Courtney, Maureen Newby, JoAnn Lee
  March 2009
• Worker Survey: Questionnaire
• Worker Survey: Fact sheet
• Parent Survey: Full report. Evaluation of Washington's Solution Based Casework Model Interim Report: Part IV Baseline Parent Survey Analysis by State, Region, and Service Context
  Maureen Marcenko, Maureen Newby, JoAnn Lee, Mark Courtney, Kathy Brennan
  November 2009
• Parent Survey: Questionnaire
  In addition to answering our questionnaire, parents responded to selected portions (or scales) from the  Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). This brief diagnostic instrument assesses adult mental health concerns such as depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder -- as well as alcohol and substance dependency.
• Parent Survey: Fact sheet

Foster parent  recruitment and retention: 

Like many other child welfare systems across the country, Washington State is trying to do a better job of recruiting and retaining foster parents. As part of this effort, the Department of Social and Health Services Children's Administration asked Partners for Our Children to identify challenges and opportunities for improvement.

• Foster parent recruitment and retention
  Maureen Marcenko, Kathy Brennan, Sandra Lyons
  2009

Youth aging out of foster care:

• Fostering connections after age 18: Report of a convening to address housing, Health care, education and other transition to adulthood issues
  Partners for Our Children and the Juvenile Law Center
  October, 2008

One week after the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 became law, Partners for Our Children and the Juvenile Law Center convened a meeting in Seattle to discuss how this new legal framework could be used to smooth the transition of foster youth into adulthood. Although the timing of the convening was coincidental, it allowed participants to use FCSIA's new context to address the legal and court framework for older foster youth, as well as the issues of housing, employment, education, physical and behavioral health, and permanency planning.